Unemployment seen surging across the region | GulfNews.com

Unemployment seen surging across the region | GulfNews.com:

"Unemployment across the oil exporting countries in the region including the GCC is expected surge as governments are poised to cut spending to cope with rising fiscal deficits, according to the IMF’s regional economic outlook.

In the GCC, excluding the UAE, more than 2 million nationals are expected to join the workforce by 2020. If private sector job growth were to follow past trends, and public sector employment growth is consistent with the current fiscal projections, more than half a million job market entrants will end up being unemployed, in addition to the 1 million who are already out of work.

“The aggregate GCC unemployment rate would increase from 12 per cent to 16 per cent. Clearly, if more fiscal adjustment were to take place, with some of it in the form of reined-in public sector hiring, unemployment rates would be even higher,” said Masoud Ahmad, the IMF’s regional director for Middle East and Central Asia."



'via Blog this'